Is It Thyme Yet?

Fresh herbs add flavor dimensions to cooking that cannot be achieved with dried herbs alone. After years of reading cookbooks & magazines, watching television programs, and simply experimenting, one thing I have learned for sure is that learning to layer flavors is essential to achieving a finished product that rivals those produced in restaurants. There is a reason for seasoning at the beginning, in the middle, and tasting and seasoning at the end. Some fresh herbs, such as rosemary and sage, are great added in the beginning because longer cooking helps develop their flavor, others are more delicate, like parsley and chives, and need to be added at the very end. Fresh herbs are readily available today in most good grocery stores, but are often a bit on the pricey side. The easiest and least expensive way to have access to those herbs you like to use regularly is to grow them yourself. It is not difficult. Most herbs are very tough & undemanding. It does not take a lot of space. You can do it even if you live in a place that has cold winters.
I started growing my own culinary herbs about twenty-five years ago - just pots on the back steps. I began with basil during the summer because it is my absolute favorite and I love making pesto; parsley because it is versatile and chives because they are really easy and we love them in scrambled eggs. Soon I added rosemary and sage and eventually oregano, thyme, tarragon, and marjoram. I didn't seem to use the tarragon or marjoram much so I eventually got rid of those. Rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, are all perennials so during the winter months I would simply cut everything back. Over time the plants did require re potting. Several years ago I tired of this and decided to try sticking them in the ground. I selected a spot where I had room even though it did not provide optimum growing conditions - in a border against my back fence. Out came the lava rock and in went the herbs. They have done surprisingly well, in fact, the rosemary is now in need of some major pruning. Rosemary is actually an excellent drought tolerant landscaping plant here Northern California. I have also added mint in a large pot placed among the other herbs and am thinking next spring I will plant tarragon, summer savory, and perhaps some marjoram, in the area bordering our strawberry planter box. I still prefer to keep basil, parsley, and chives, in pots on the steps because I use them so frequently. The point is you don't need a lot of space or special growing conditions to grow fresh herbs. They do well in pots, they can be purchased cheaply as young plants or started from seed. If desired, they can be brought indoors in cold weather climates and put on a window sill. Most require minimal water, little or no fertilizing, and do best in full sun, but will often do equally well in sun to part shade which is the case with the herbs I planted in the ground.

Fresh herbs contribute not only flavor to your cooking, but texture and color to your garden, whether in pots or the ground, and scent to your life as well. When people think herbs they think green, but there are many shades of green, many varieties are variegated, some are feathery, some are leathery, some have broad leaves and others are needle like, plus they flower. Think of the of piny scent of rosemary or the clean spicy scent of sage or the flowery aroma of lavender? A bouquet of herbs on your kitchen counter will perfume the room and have you dreaming of Italy or Provence or maybe even Greece. And it is easy to begin experimenting with fresh herbs so you can learn what the individual flavors are really like. Yesterday for Sunday dinner, I made a simple roast chicken with thyme. The weather was finally cool enough to feel a bit like fall so I roasted it in the oven instead of on the grill. Seasoned with salt and pepper, stuffed full of fresh thyme, and rubbed with olive oil it was set on a rack in a shallow roasting pan large enough to also accommodate some vegetables. I added a good vermouth to the pan before roasting so the drippings wouldn't burn before juices were released ( I use vermouth instead of white wine because it actually IS white wine and the flavor is always reliable). The oven was set at 375 degrees. Midway into the cooking process I added quartered Yukon Gold potatoes tossed with a bit of olive oil, baby carrots, quartered yellow onion and a few cloves of garlic, everything seasoned with salt and pepper. If you like "seasoning salt," it works well here. I also poured in the broth from simmering the giblets. The kitchen was filled with wonderful aroma for hours. And just before serving I stirred some freshly chopped flat leaf parsley into the vegetables. Everything in one pan, all very easy and my husband pronounced it "delicious!" We accompanied this with some fresh green and wax beans sauteed with crimini mushrooms and a sauvignon blanc. If you aren't experienced at cooking with fresh herbs I hope you will give them a try - and maybe buy yourself a pot of flat parsley! Happy cooking!